Africa and Islamism

J. Peter Pham, the foremost expert on radical islam in Africa, has produced another first-rate piece on the situation in Somalia. One aspect that I do wish Pham and others who subscribe to his viewpoint wopuld address is the fact that in the Somalia example the Islamists are replacing an equally noxious form of warlordism and that the Islamists seem like, and right now are, doing better for Somalia's people. This is a dilemma that we will need to address, because we have no right to say that people must be stuck with violent, corrupt and capricious leaders to fit our needs. for years I have argued that we need to support good governance, democracy, civil rights, economic opportunity, access to clean water, to food, and to healthcare, and other necessities in Africa because if we do not, we might find that the siren song of incipient Islamic radicalism might prove too tempting for people for whom geopolitics are rightly the least of their concerns.